Shawangunk Trunks

  |  April 14, 2017


Studio photographer Nora Scarlett hiked for over ten years throughout the “Gunks” (the Shawangunk Mountains of New York State) on a quest for the unusual trunk, stump, root, and log. “I looked for intriguing formations, humorous characteristics, improbable locations, surprising shapes and other wondrous growths. I became awed at scene after scene displaying how life adapts to adversity and how it succeeds in astonishing ways. Tiny seedlings emerge from small cracks in rock, sprouting a handful of needles or tender leaves, knowing only to keep trying to grow. Enormous hemlocks hang off ledges, improbably rooted to something, looking as if they shouldn’t be upright, and yet … there they are.”

Drawing from her years of studio photography experience, she considered every detail of light and composition while crafting these striking images. They reflect an endeavor to see beyond the ordinary into a forest of surprise and delight.

Overhanging Hemlocks

A boulder and a Maple tree

Bonticou Black Birch

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